The Role of First Line Managers

The First Line Manager's Role - In Team Learning

0:07
Hello and welcome to CommLab, India's eLearning Champion Pod. I'm your host Tanushree back with another interesting episode. We all are aware of the increasing importance of upskilling and reskilling in today's competitive corporate world and how continual learning helps organizations to stay ahead of the curve. In today's podcast, we will explore the crucial role first line managers play in upskilling their teams. Joining me in this interesting conversation is Shalini, Director, Learning Solutions. A very warm welcome to you, Shalini.

0:45
Hi, Tanushree. Thank you very much. And a very warm welcome to all our viewers.

0:52
So without much ado, let's dive into today's episode. To begin with, Shalini, I would like to understand why is a manager's involvement in training important?

1:08
I'd like to respond to that by throwing a question at our viewers. When you think of training, whose burden is it anyway?

Traditionally L&D has been the one whose sole responsibility is to equip teams with the required knowledge and skills for them to do their job well. They design all kinds of learning experiences which are impactful, relevant, and so on.

But the bigger question is, is training exclusively the responsibility of L&D or is there a role that first line managers play in their teams’ learning goals?

When we think manager, we think performance. And typically the thing that comes most easily to mind is the discussions over performance, the performance reviews. And it is good because those give great inputs to our teams, on our strengths and where we can improve.

But if we flip it around and start from the learning end of the stick, that's where we can as first line managers demonstrate a greater commitment to our teams’ development goals because development is going to translate into improved performance.

So instead of focusing just on the results, if we as first line managers can be a part of the ongoing learning journeys of our teams, then the teams are going to feel more supported, they'll be more engaged and there's going to be a better impact.

And really, L&D, while they roll out all kinds of programs, it's the manager who has daily contact with the team, who is closest to the team, understands their day-to-day challenges best.

The L&D manager does involve first line managers in the initial phase of this entire training because that's where they get their inputs from managers on the skill gaps, the areas to focus on.

They're closely involved at the very beginning of this whole journey. Then first line managers come in towards the end when L&D reaches out to measure the impact of the training.

That's when there are a lot of conversations that happen whether the managers see any visible or tangible improvement in the performance of their team as a result of this learning intervention.

So we see managers closely involved at the beginning and closely involved at the end, but what about all the time in between?

That is where I think it really pays for first line managers to be actively involved. There are any number of studies which show that manager involvement and support plays a key role in retention of their teams.

So what better way to demonstrate it than by walking alongside their teams during their learning journeys rather than just having performance related conversations quarterly or annually or whatever.

4:40
It was really insightful to understand, Shalini, that it's not only the role of the L&D teams or the L&D managers specifically to take care of the employees training, but first line managers also do have an important part to play when it comes to training or upskilling and re skilling their teams. So what should managers do before training? How can they prepare their teams for the upcoming training?

5:14
I think it begins with engaging with the teams. Typically what happens is most of us receive a notification from our LMS saying that you've been assigned this training. That's such an impersonal way to hear that there is an upcoming training on your schedule. A better way would be when the manager knows that certain trainings are important and they're upcoming, engage with the team much before, create a sense of anticipation about the upcoming initiative, have conversations with their teams about how that training is relevant to their roles. What is the purpose of the training in the 1st place?

How is it relevant to their roles?

What are the benefits of doing this and how will it help the learner improve their performance and enhance their career? Because it could be a great career enhancement opportunity.

So these are some very quick ways which don't really require too much time for the manager to begin doing with their teams. And while they are at it, it also helps if the managers ask the team to draft their own personal objectives or goals. I'm sure most people do it. They have their list of goals and objectives.

Encourage them to see how this upcoming initiative will help them move closer towards achieving that goal. It could be a new skill, or it could be bettering an existing skill, whatever it is, it's going to just move them closer towards improved performance.

So that is one important way because learning experiences which are crafted by L&D always have a very powerful ‘what's in it for me’ at the beginning of the training.

But I would like to suggest that nothing’s more impactful than when the manager themselves steps in and lets the team know what's in it for them. It's one thing to just motivate people and let them know why it's important. The other thing is which everybody struggles with time, right? So it may be that the team is really motivated to learn, but there is absolutely no way they can do it with the existing workload. This is where managers can play a very big role in helping the team establish their priorities, and helping them block a little bit of their time for training. This is where the manager has visibility into the workload. An L&D manager will have no access to this kind of information. This is where a manager can work collectively with the team to establish some priorities and provide the big picture.

As I said, connect not just the training to the learners, at the employees’ individual development goals, but also to the bigger picture, the strategic lens, so to speak, where the learner can see how they doing better in this particular area contributes to the overall health of the business.

So that way, you don't feel like you're just a cog in the wheel. You are playing a meaningful, relevant role and helping the business go forward. And of course, one of the most powerful ways in which managers can really support their teams before the training is to show the team that they are also learners and be enthusiastic about their own learning. Because let's face it, the moment we say training, most employees react with a little bit of cynicism because sometimes, it's just time away from work and it's seen as something disruptive, unless it's designed carefully.

So this is where a manager's enthusiasm to be a learner by modelling the right behaviour can really impact the team when they say see it in action. Somebody being enthusiastic about their own learning, investing in themselves as a learner, that creates a connect. That's another powerful motivational way to support your team before the team engages in their respective learning journeys.

10:09
You're right, Shalini. I could also resonate with a few of the points that when we actually hear of training, we sometimes feel that oh, we have our deliverables and back-to-back meetings in that busy schedule, finding time for continual learning or upskilling ourselves sometimes becomes difficult.

So when it comes from our managers how important this training is and how it can help us grow and make our daily work-life really seamless, that is really important. And when it comes from our managers, it definitely helps us understand the relevance of the training better and we feel more comfortable to look forward to it and we are more open to attend those training sessions.

11:04
Absolutely, it lowers the resistance.

11:13
We are more receptive towards the training that is going to. So Shalini, how can managers support their teams during the training process? We have just heard from you how before training they can prepare their teams, but what's their role or how do they support their team during the training?

11:33
A lot of things are similar actually, what you would expect a manager to do before, if they can continue during it, doing it during the training, that would be great. So continue to be engaged. Be interested in your team's learning, support them first. Be aware, that's the first step. What is your team learning? Be interested, show an active interest and offer your support. If the team for any reason is facing any kind of challenge, encourage them.

You've had those talks before the training, but it's always good to remind them to focus on their short term and their long term goals. And if there's any kind of feedback that the team wants to give during their training, it's always a great idea to take note of it. Maybe they can't address it directly through the L&D solution, but there are other touch points through which that can be addressed. And once again, reevaluate priorities.

You establish priorities, you look at their workload, reevaluate them if required. This is especially relevant if your team is going through a very long learning journey with multiple trainings. This is where you have to keep taking stock and keep having conversations with your team as a whole to see how best you can support them, how best you can reorganize certain deliverables, and so on.

And one more thing. It's very important for the team to know that as they're progressing through the learning, what skills or knowledge areas can they check off, because before the training, they knew they were heading in a certain direction.

So once again, you have to remind them, show the skill gaps that are being addressed or that have already been addressed and what's coming up next. Set the benchmark, as somebody who's a committed learner yourself. And in some instances, if the team is really facing a very complicated, complex kind of subject area in which they require training, this is when I feel the managers can point them to other ways to learn as well, outside of the strictly formal event.

A lot of on the job training happens anyway. But if you can identify which areas your individual team members are struggling with, you can coach them, mentor them in a very focused way.

You can also encourage them to have learning buddies, pick up learning buddies because that makes everybody feel that they are in it together. And also it helps to clarify important doubts and share best practices and so on.

At this point, it's also important for the manager to let the team know that they are also completing their own training. This is, of course, relevant if everybody is assigned to the same set of trainings. For instance, if there's a huge organizational change, everybody goes through that training, so it's like a shared journey really, even if they're at different levels. Complete your own training. That way you're more equipped to take discussions forward when your team wants to talk about something which is a concern or a new idea, some insight, some actionable next step.

So, encourage this discussion of learning and remind them that it's very valuable to make use of the existing communities of practice within the organization. Direct them to those communities of practice, encourage them to be a part of it, and as they're going through this learning journey, to document their own learning in a learning journal. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, just a few bullets every time they go through a training. It really helps to reduce it down to writing, as something you can look at and also helps you to map the progress that you are making as a learner. Encourage them to share again these kind of insights or best practices with the team whenever possible.

16:40
Thank you for sharing such useful tips, Shalini, because the role of the first line managers during the training sounds really important. As you stated, they are not only supposed to just inform their teams about the upcoming training, but can handle them through the learning journey to make it more meaningful. As you mentioned before, making a note of whatever important learnings they have, preparing a learning journal can really help them. And definitely after training also, whenever it is a time of need, that moment of need, those learning journals can be really helpful to just go and check and proceed further.

So that was really wonderful to understand that the role of the first line managers don't just end by introducing the topic, but really they can be like a true friend, a true mentor walking through the journey with the learners is really important.

17:52
So I wouldn't recommend that you hand hold the team. Again, it's a very fine balance. You wouldn't want to be overly intrusive. So it's a fine balance between knowing when to support, where to support, and when to just step back and let the team just stick it on their own.

I think that's something that any good manager should be cued into, how their team feels about something at any given point in their learning.

18:29
By handholding, I meant during the time if your team members actually require you. So that was wonderful to understand from you, Shalini. I'm just curious to know does the role of the manager end with the training or do they also have a part to play once the training is complete? Any insights on that?

18:47
Oh yes, I think ‘after’ is really key. It's key because it takes time for the learner to move from the learning zone to this performance zone. And whatever skills you've learned, now you're back in the real world and now you have to start applying them in your day-to-day work life. And this is where it can get very frustrating for a learner, for a team member, to not have opportunities to apply them. So this is where I feel after the training, the first line manager can really discuss application opportunities and provide them to the team members, maybe there was a safe project on which you can have somebody work on with their newly found skills and be involved.

The main thing is to provide those opportunities. Because if there are no opportunities to apply them, those skills are going to be lost. No matter how well that learning experience was crafted, it's just going to evaporate all that learning because you haven't really transferred it into application. So this is a very key thing where it's only the first line manager who can provide these opportunities. It's not the L&D manager, it's not the business leaders, it's only the first line manager.

And really at the end of the day, every manager is interested in improving their team perform well, in enhancing individual development, so that it all ladders up to the overall team performance.

And it's also a good idea to take stock of the skill gap. If the team members have written down right at the beginning before the training, what are their goals?

What's their current state?

Where would they like to be with that given area?

It's a good idea to go back and ask them to relook and see the skill or the knowledge gap, is it bridged? And then provide the opportunities for application.

And if you're going through a common learning journey, then share your own insights with your team on how best as a team you can enhance your performance in that area.

Another thing that really is very motivational is celebrate successes. There are some members in a team who really are very enthusiastic about learning, who finish their learning ahead of others. Just a little bit of acknowledgement of that, a little appreciation can go a long way in helping people feel a sense of achievement, a sense of belonging, to celebrate successes, even if they are very small.

Because I don't think there's any other platform in which you can do that. At the L&D level, maybe it will be just winners of some learning contest or winners of some gamification driven course at that level.

But here, within your little teams, acknowledge those who have shown that initiative and have been proactive about finishing their learning journeys, and those who take part in conversations, discussions.

So that is something that can really help.

Another thing is have QA sessions. This is where the manager can really help.

Put on the cap of a mentor, a coach in a sense, and also encourage cross learning because when you have Q&A sessions, it's not only the person asking the question who benefits, but it's also all the others who are attending that session. And answers can be provided by other employees as well.

So give constructive feedback to your team. Take constructive feedback. Direct them to additional resources if required. Encourage a lot of active sharing and encourage them also to set further goals for their own development.

So these are just some ways in which I believe a first time manager can do what an L&D manager can't do. Also provide them additional learning opportunities if they show interest. It could be giving them access to certain learning, say some course on LinkedIn Learning for instance outside of what your organization itself is providing.

These are small ways in which the first line manager can be a very active contributor to building and nurturing a learning culture, a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

And it all begins with your own team, really. It begins with yourself, your commitment to being a learner, and extending that commitment to supporting your team and their learning goals.

24:50
So really it's like very interesting to understand that the role of the first line managers in your team's training plays a crucial part. And as you said, post training also how to make an opportunity for your team member to really apply the knowledge and the skills that they have acquired during the training sessions is in the hands of the first line manager, of course. And also motivating them and encouraging them to take up additional courses, as you said on LinkedIn learning or some joining a community online forums to for peer-to-peer learning and to share your thoughts and opinions on whatever they have learned, that can really take them the entire team a long way in and yes, and learning would become like every learner would feel motivated to take a further training. And as you also mentioned that into incentivizing them not in on, not on monetary terms of course, but by acknowledging their participation in the training program can also motivate learners to to take further training and do continuous upscaling and rescaling of themselves.

So what I understood from our discussion, Shalini, is the role of the first line managers is throughout the training, not only during the training but pre as well as post.

But what bothers me now is, isn't it time consuming for managers to be this involved in training? How do they manage, how to balance their work as well as their involvement in training?

26:39
That's a million dollar question Tanushree. I'm sure most managers shrink away from being that involved because they think there's just no time. But the best part about ongoing involvement with the team's learning is, you can use your regular touch points with the team, but from a learning perspective. When you have a regular 15 minute team meet, you can use 3 minutes at the beginning and touch on the learning part of it. It doesn't take a long time. You can also use your one on ones.

And as I mentioned, you can have your mentor hat on when you're doing these one on ones, not just from the performance side of things, but also from the learning side of things.

And if learners or employees are struggling to still bridge the gap, this is where those one on ones can be really powerful. Just informal discussion opportunities, when you bump into somebody in your cafeteria for a cup of coffee, checking on some ongoing learning that’s happening. It's important, it pays to just spend a minute checking in. Very informal.

And yeah, so there are ways in which you can leverage. You don't have to exclusively block time unless the kind of training warrants a Q and A from the manager. And the team shows an interest or they ask for a session, then that's fine.

But I'm talking about just these regular touch points that the manager has with their team anyway. All it needs is one minute to just ask somebody, how are you doing?

Is there anything I can support you with?

Are you still struggling with something? Maybe I can direct you to some additional resource.

These are small ways, so I don't think that they make too many demands on the manager's time, but the results are totally worth it. Because not only do you see learners more committed, more engaged, but they are more likely to demonstrate improved performance.

29:02
That was really wonderful Shalini that it's not only always that formal involvement is required, but the quick catch ups and informal ways can go a long way and help the learners as well as the manager to be on the same page, what exactly is that? Whether the training is beneficial or not, whether it is fetching the desired results or not. So I would like to know, Shalini, that how does a manager benefit from active involvement in training? Does he also have some benefits from his active involvement in training?

29:49
Yeah, actually it's a win-win. Not only does the team benefit, but the manager benefits because, to begin with, the manager is the one most aware of the gaps and what are the challenges the learner faces on the job. When the manager is involved during this entire learning process, this journey, the manager also gets insights into the team members’ strengths, weaknesses, their learning agility and it can help them identify people who are ready for a more challenging project, or even for the next role.

It's not always the performance review discussions and the performance review data that can give you insights into who's ready for a bigger role. Who's ready or who's the learning champion?

Who is the most skilled member in your team when it comes to helping the rest of the team raise their own performance? So these are some ways the manager gets insights. And based on this, they can take certain decisions. They can decide on stretch assignments. Who can handle the stretch assignment, for instance, based on the learning agility that is shown during this entire learning journey?

So I think it's a great way for the manager to also feel the pulse of the team closer, and in real time.

I would say it's definitely a win-win for both the manager and their teams. If the manager is involved, she is more likely to see a more involved team.

31:46
So interesting, Shalini, that it's not only the team or the learners who get benefited, but the managers also get a clear view of what their team is exactly up to, maybe their learning agility or how much they are able to apply their learning and maybe also decide the further course of action.

32:16
So that's an important point actually, Tanushree, because at the end of it, it's time to once again reevaluate your development goals informally and set more ambitious goals. Always challenge the team to grow and develop themselves.

That's where the manager really has a key role and is also benefited by the improved engagement and performance of the team.

33:01
This also helps the manager as well as the team to contribute to the greater business goals and priorities.

33:03
Yes, definitely, yes, definitely.

All this is assuming that L&D has done the foundational step of making sure the training is aligned with the business goals. That step firmly in place and by crafting good, relevant, useful, meaningful learning experiences, with all that in place, the involvement of the manager is really a catalyst to making sure that the intended performance improvements happen as a result of the training.

33:39
So what is the overall message you would like to pass on to our first line managers?

33:48
Well, if you are a first line manager, you are a co-owner with L&D in helping improve your team's performance through learning. You're already doing it. You've probably raised the request for training, you've already identified where the skill gaps are and you're the one who is monitoring the progress of the team real time. So you're already involved, you're already the biggest stakeholder in your teams’ training, learning.

So continue that and while L&D can be called in to develop great engaging, impactful learning experiences, as a co-owner with L&D, when it comes to learning and training, you play a far bigger role than just being a supervisor to your team. That I think is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a manager, when you see your team grow, when you see their development happen, the team meeting their development goals and all of that laddering up to the performance as a team, as a business.

35:17
It was a wonderful conversation, Shalini. I thoroughly enjoyed all the points that you have covered and thank you for these wonderful insights. I'm sure our viewers have multiple useful takeaways from the discussion and must be keen to apply them.

So with this, we come to the end of today's episode. Thank you all. Catch you in the coming week with another interesting episode. Till then, take care and stay tuned. Thank you.